Physicians commonly utilize imaging in the diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of medical conditions. Various imaging methods are capable of distinguishing between at least some types of materials in a human body. For example, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may distinguish between bone material, organs, and various forms of soft tissue. Ultrasound may distinguish an internal organ from surrounding parts of a human body. Contrast imaging is the imaging of a contrast agent delivered to the tissue or material of interest. The contrast agent is administered to the patient before or during imaging and predominantly binds to or occupies certain types of materials. These materials are thereby enhanced in the images. Contrast imaging is utilized to image tissue vascularization. In this case, a contrast agent is delivered to the cardiovascular system of the patient. Detection and evaluation of tissue vascularization is used to diagnose and monitor conditions such as hemangioma, vascular anomalies, and cancer.
Notably, vascularization properties of a malignant tumor tend to be different from those of healthy tissue and benign tumors. The vascularization topology of a malignant breast tumor, as well as the blood flow properties of the vessels, differs from that of healthy breast tissue. The normal breast is vascularized with a well-organized and regular network of vessels. On the other hand, the vasculature around a malignant tumor is of irregular size, shape, and branching pattern, and lacks the vascular network hierarchy of healthy breast tissue. In addition, individual vessels are compromised. These features of a malignant tumor result in, for example, lower blood flow rates than in healthy tissue, chaotic blood flow around the malignant tumor, and diffusion of blood plasma into the surrounding tissue.
Tumor vascularization imaging may detect a malignant tumor or distinguish a benign breast tumor from a malignant breast tumor. Tumor vascularization imaging may also monitor tumor angiogenesis (the formation of new blood-vessels from existing blood vessels) as a tool to stage disease progression or as a tool to monitor disease progression during an anti-angiogenic treatment course.